Books........You Can't Read Just One

Bibliography

Graham, Bob. 2011. A bus called heaven. Somerville, Mass: Candlewick Press ISBN 9780763658939

Brief Plot Summary

Stella, a small, pale child, lives in a bustling urban community where no one in the neighborhood seems to find the time to interact with each other. That is until one day when an old, abandoned bus labeled “Heaven” finds its way in front of Stella’s home. The community takes notice and soon change begins to occur when neighbors unite to embrace the bus as their own by giving life back to it. The bus becomes a community center for young and old alike. Heaven has opened its doors and welcomed all. That is until a tow truck arrives and takes Heaven away to the junkyard to comply with city regulations. A challenge is offered by Stella to compete against the junkyard driver in a game of table soccer, giving the driver a slight edge, to win back the bus. A solid victory is had by Stella and Heaven returns to the vacant lot behind Stella’s home for all to share and enjoy.

Critical Analysis

Bob Graham has written and illustrated a book that brings together human beings from all ages, races, genders, ethnicities, and religions to show a meaningful representation of a diverse community and the ability to strive for a common goal of inclusiveness within a neighborhood. The idea that the abandoned bus is called “heaven” makes the text so much richer. This book is not religious based so heaven’s interpretation is left up to the audience and their own understanding. One does not need a religious outlook to justify what heaven might be to them. Characters within the text are widely diverse. For example, there are women in hijabs, rabbis, priest, imams, tattooed individuals, elderly people, youngsters, bikers, families, gay and interracial couples, graffiti artists, and Stella, symbolically represented as pale, no skin color. The only representation of color attributed to her is in her clothing. Stella also can be viewed as a character that begins the story with a “thumb in her mouth," but ends up being the heroine in the story. This transformation shows readers that anyone with determination and a vision can lead a group or community to work together.

The illustrations are created with ink and watercolors in text boxes that give a comic strip-like feel to them. The text was typeset in Ionic MT, which makes the story look as if it was typed on an old fashioned typewriter. The details in the illustrations provided glimpses into an urban setting neighborhood that has many cultures represented. For example, when Stella and her neighbors board the abandoned bus for the first time, only the people have been given any color to them. The bus is sketched in white and gray with very limited color offered for the items left inside. As the bus is cleaned up, the items brought to decorate provide the color and well as the inhabitants while the bus remains colorless on the inside. Another element of multicultural authenticity is the interaction of all story characters with others outside their own race, ethnicity, and religious affiliation. This varied representation of many cultures shows the power of a community coming together as one to better the world, one neighborhood at a time. Since this story takes place within an urban setting, Mr. Graham has incorporated many different modes of transportation that one would encounter with that setting including busses, cars, walking, delivery trucks and vans, bicycles, mopeds, motorcycles, and even cattle cars.

A Bus Called Heaven provides the reader with an example of how people of varied cultures can come together and take a stand for a positive change in the world.

Awards

United States Board on Books for Young People (USBBY) 2013

Book of the Year 2012, Australia

Canberra’s Own Outstanding List (COOL) 2014, Australia

Review Excerpts

Horn Books: “ Graham’s inviting ink and watercolor illustrations vary perspectives dynamically. Close-up, detailed panels celebrate difference, while expansive single- and double-page views pull back to place this little urban utopia in a bleak industrial landscape. Heaven is threatened when a tow truck shows up in the midst of the “music and dancing…picnics and laughter” to haul the “obstruction” to the junkyard. But Stella’s passion (and her impressive table soccer skills) helps win over the junkyard boss and win back the bus. Here, when a priest, a rabbi, and an imam step onto a bus called Heaven, it’s not a joke. It’s simply the way life should be.”

Publishers Weekly: “An abandoned, broken-down bus—destination “Heaven”—unites a community and inspires Stella, the heroine of Graham’s uplifting story. Graham’s ink-and-watercolor scenes capture the small details (overgrown yards, vacant lots, old tires, and refrigerators) of a struggling urban neighborhood eager for a sign of hope. And he effortlessly depicts a slice of city life, in which people of various religions, races, ages, and occupations pull together as one.”

Connections

Compare the abandoned bus in A Bus Called Heaven with the injured bird in another Bob Graham book, How to Heal a Broken Wing. Discuss to see if there are common themes across the two books. Are the characters and setting similar? Create a thinking map

(Venn diagram) to see the similarities and differences between the two books.

Identify specific details in the illustrations that promote a community. What makes a good community? Identify in the illustrations details that show the shortcomings in a community or flaws of not maintaining a community. Compare and contrast with a thinking map.